BC Eagles defeat Ferris State to win national championship

After Thursday’s win over No. 2-ranked Minnesota proved to
be a cakewalk, Saturday’s showdown with Ferris State in the
national championship figured to be yet another blowout victory for
the BC Eagles.

Winners of 18-straight coming into the night, including a 6-1
drubbing of the Gophers in the Frozen Four semifinals, Boston
College was given one serious run for its money on Saturday night
down at Tampa Bay Times Forum by the Bulldogs, but not even the
most valiant of efforts could prevent the Eagles from accomplishing
something they’ve seemingly been destined to for most of the
college hockey season.

BC claimed their third national title in five years, defeating
underdog Ferris State by a final score of 4-1.

Steven Whitney (Reading, Mass.) opened the scoring just 3:18
into the contest, burying a backhander on a feed from Barry Almeida
(Springfield, Mass.) to put the Eagles on top. The Bulldogs
responded quickly. Parker Milner denied Andy Huff’s bid, but
Garrett Thompson crashed in and slammed home the rebound to make it
1-1.

It was the last time a puck would find its way into the back of
BC’s net.

Paul Carey deflected a shot by defenseman Brian Dumoulin past
Taylor Nelson with 9:27 to go in the opening frame to put the
Eagles back on top.

Boston College survived a trying second period in which they
gave Ferris State four power plays. But BC’s aggressive
penalty kill, and some timely stops from Milner, prevented the
opposition from cashing in.

Ferris State came oh-so-close to knotting things up at multiple
points in the third period. With a little more than seven minutes
to go in regulation, defenseman Chad Billins carried the puck in
from the blue line and snuck past multiple defenders. He then fed
the puck over to Travis Ouellette. Ouellette ripped a quick shot
from Milner’s right, but the oft-unbeatable BC netminder
stoned his bid to tie things up at 2-2.

With 3:02 left, freshman Johnny Gaudreau used some slick
stick-work to get around a defender and beat Nelson with a
top-shelf backhander to put the Eagles up by two. Whitney then
sealed the deal with an empty-netter with 1:03 to play. All that
was left to do was surround Milner for a jubilant celebration.

The win caps off a remarkable year for Jerry York’s squad.
The Eagles reigned supreme in the Beanpot for the third-straight
season, went on a remarkable roll and headed into the NCAA
tournament riding high after winning the Hockey East
tournament.

But both of those feats certainly pale in comparison to what BC
pulled off on Saturday night, as the Eagles were crowned as the
kings of college hockey for the 2011-12 season.